1. Holland CD. {{Autism, insurance, and the idea: providing a comprehensive legal framework}}. {Cornell Law Rev} (Sep);95(6):1253-1282.
2. Leonard HC, Annaz D, Karmiloff-Smith A, Johnson MH. {{Brief Report: Developing Spatial Frequency Biases for Face Recognition in Autism and Williams Syndrome}}. {J Autism Dev Disord} (Oct 14)
The current study investigated whether contrasting face recognition abilities in autism and Williams syndrome could be explained by different spatial frequency biases over developmental time. Typically-developing children and groups with Williams syndrome and autism were asked to recognise faces in which low, middle and high spatial frequency bands were masked. All three groups demonstrated a gradual specialisation toward the mid-band. However, while the use of high spatial frequencies decreased in control and autism groups over development, the Williams syndrome group did not display a bias toward this band at any point. These data demonstrate that typical outcomes can be achieved through atypical developmental processes, and confirm the importance of cross-syndrome studies in the investigation of developmental disorders.
3. Satterfield BC, Garcia RA, Gurrieri F, Schwartz CE. {{PCR and serology find no association between xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) and autism}}. {Mol Autism} (Oct 14);1(1):14.
ABSTRACT: Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) is a retrovirus implicated in prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Press releases have suggested that it could contribute to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study we used two PCR assays and one antibody assay to screen 25 blood samples from autistic children born to mothers with CFS and from 20 mixed controls including family members of the children assayed, people with fibromyalgia and people with chronic Lyme disease. Using a real-time PCR assay, we screened an additional 48 South Carolina autism disorder samples, 96 Italian ASD)samples, 61 South Carolina ASD samples and 184 healthy controls. Despite having the ability to detect low copy number XMRV DNA in a large background of cellular DNA, none of the PCR assays found any evidence of XMRV infection in blood cells from patients or controls. Further, no anti-XMRV antibodies were detected, ruling out possible low level or abortive infections in blood or in other reservoirs. These results imply that XMRV is not associated with autism.
